


In Which Warnings are Summarily Ignored

by gcp



Category: Original Work
Genre: Baseball bats, Friendship, Gen, I might as well post this for other people to see, SO, Their future self might actually be time traveling to deliver ominous warnings, Time Shenanigans, Time Travel, and I thought, and destroy their life’s work, and it is secondary to the PLOT, bc I am not a scientist, bc who knows?, capitalism as the start of the apocalypse, friends stick by friends even if they seem like they’re crazy, gee I have an ao3 account, hand wavey science, iHOP appreciation, so i had to write this for my creative writing class in school, that May or may not happen, the science is pretty much ignored and not explained actually, time traveling to stop the apocalypse, um, unappreciated scientists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 07:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17935406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gcp/pseuds/gcp
Summary: When I walked into my lab this morning, I was thrilled to see someone that looked a lot like myself attempting to destroy what I had determined would be my life’s work. That might sound odd, but it really isn’t when you have context for it.





	In Which Warnings are Summarily Ignored

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this from a tumblr post: https://logicalbookthief.tumblr.com/post/170221914284/fantastic-queenie-writing-prompt-s-i-know-im

When I walked into my lab this morning, I was thrilled to see someone that looked a lot like myself attempting to destroy what I had determined would be my life’s work. Now, that might sound odd but it really isn’t when you have context for it.

My name is Sanja Trefirt. I’m the head researcher on the Tachyon Project. Well, I say head researcher. And, technically, it’s true! Mostly because I’m the only researcher who’s actually working on the project. The company didn’t really want to invest that many scientists into something that they were sure would be a failure. A profitable failure, but a failure all the same. But still! It’s an accomplishment! Especially because I have decided that I was going to make it a success, come hell or high water! Once it works, I’ll be able to get real funding! And hopefully some coworkers! Or interns, I’d settle for some interns. At least a decent coffee machine where no one is laughing at me behind my back 

…Anyway, that doesn’t really explain anything, does it. The Tachyon Project is devoted to creating a time machine, or at least determining whether or not time travel is actually possible, disregarding all of the paradox theories floating around. Because of how iffy the very possibility of time travel is, and consequently the possibility of the project actually bearing fruit, the company, FuTech, doesn’t want to put any more resources than they need to into it. Which means that all the Tachyon Project has is me and the second-rate equipment that I was supplied with.

The thing is, the Tachyon Project was my first big project, and I had been put in charge of it! Even though it was pretty much being set up for failure, I still had to bring my A-game on it. So, of course, I decided to make it the biggest thing that I would ever accomplish. I decided to make time travel a reality. 

So, all of this may or may not be explaining why I was so happy to see someone trying to destroy the prototype I had cobbled together. Well, that ‘someone’ had looked like me. A lot like me. Because she was me. From the future. The readings that I got from my sensors confirmed it: I had figured out how to time travel at some point in the future. Which was a bit of a big deal, you know. Validation of my dedication and hard work and all that. And, yeah, it feels pretty good. I am glad that I decided to keep a baseball bat in my lab – I’m pretty far removed from any type of security or anything, it’s for my safety and my project’s – so that I could fend myself off and keep my prototype 

As soon as I walked in and grabbed the bat, future!me stepped away from the prototype and took off for the door like a cat towards the food bowl. I probably should have called security, or at least reported a break-in, but I was pretty excited about solid proof that time travel was possible and achievable within my lifetime that I didn’t really even think of it. Also, it probably wouldn’t have done me any good. Security already knows me as that crazy lady thanks to the Incident-that-shall-not-be-spoken-of and probably wouldn’t take me seriously, and future!me’s time machine was probably a) in the building without having to bypass security and b) already gone. So it’s understandable that I cared more about my project, really.  
I started taking readings with my instruments, trying to see if I could take any meaningful data from it, and hopefully manage to use it in my calculations to refine the prototype. If I could, then this visit was a blessing in more than one way. Solid proof of time travel and readings from an actual time traveler/time machine? Heaven. While the instruments were running, I sorted through my notebooks, hoping to find an unused one, or at least one that I could rip pages out of without something horrible happening to some essential data or hypotheses or designs. 

“Now,” I said to myself as I looked, “I probably should avoid creating time paradoxes, even though I am still unconvinced of their existence either way, and try to determine when that version of me was from, so that I can come back here then and try to destroy the prototype and provide essential evidence in the process. Really, I can understand why I would want to come back here after I finish, but was trying to demolish my life’s work (up to this point!) really necessary? I mean, I can understand going along with what I had seen in the past, but then I could simply change the past by not doing it, and –. But that right there is a rabbit hole that I do not want to go down right now, and should probably avoid for my own sanity. Aha!”

I had managed to dig up a blank notebook and a mechanical pencil. I grabbed a sharpie and titled the notebook first, though. I didn’t normally label my notebooks unless they were extraordinarily important, because I tended to just grab the nearest piece of paper and scribble on it, and it would stay there unless it was, as mentioned, extraordinarily important enough to be transferred to a labeled notebook later. And this? This whole day fit quite nicely under the category of ‘extraordinarily important’, so. I felt justified in labeling a new notebook. I wrote ‘TIME TRAVELER DESRIPTIONS AND THEORIES” on the front, in all caps because I was excited, and with ‘descriptions” misspelled also because I was excited. I opened the notebook to the front page and began to record anything about future!me that I felt was significant – and since it was still me I felt that I had a pretty good grasp on what was and was not significant – saying them out loud as I 

“Yes, she didn’t look all that much older than me, really. Couldn’t have been more than ten years, maximum, though that is assuming that I aged incredibly well considering that I only looked about four or five years older, really, at a rough estimate. And that is sort of depreciating my own skills, hmm, saying that I could only make a time machine in ten years and not sooner. I was wearing a lab coat, which is odd because I don’t normally, they’re very lax on dress code down here, and under that just my normal clothes. Or, clothes that I assume are still like my normal clothes, since I don’t own that outfit yet and my styles could have changed, I suppose. Black slacks, violet top, low heels, the practical kind, and hair braided. I should try that style, actually.” I paused for a second, before grinning. “And I did! Because I couldn’t be wearing it in the future if I haven’t tried it now! Ah, time travel, you amuse me. Oh! I should probably write down the date, too, because I might not remember it, but if I still have this notebook, it’ll help me 

I put down the pencil and ran my hands through my hair, exhilarated. I wanted to lean back, and it would probably feel good if I did, but only for the two and a half seconds before I fell on the floor because I didn’t actually have chairs down here, just stools. Which, you know, they served the same purpose so I really shouldn’t complain. Not as good for having life-changing experiences or revelations in, but still. Good enough.

I stayed there for a few minutes, just sort of. Taking it in. Until my instruments started crying, telling me that they had finished taking their 

“Alright, alright already,” I muttered as I got up and went over to them, “I can hear you crying, I know that you’re finished, stop yelling at me, you’re making me feel guilty for ignoring you.”

Any guilt that there might have been, however, disappeared as soon as I the readings, so glorious they were. I might have gasped and immediately gotten to work on putting them to use, but I also might have just stood there in a stupor until Laura came to get me because I hadn’t taken my lunch break yet and she was worried about me starving without someone to feed me regularly. She did things like that a lot, and I’m pretty sure that she only got more worried about me when she found me possibly just standing in front of my instruments and staring at them 

“Sanja,” she said, “what are you doing.”

“Buh – readings – time – future!” I may have stuttered out.

Laura sighed. “That is the sound of someone who needs to not be in a lab, and probably food, because this someone probably hasn’t eaten since dinner last night. Come on.”

Laura came up behind me and grabbed my arm, guiding me out of the lab surprisingly gently, considering that she did it on a semi-regular basis and was probably very frustrated with it by now. Laura was my best friend, we had met in college and stayed friends through grad school, and now we worked at the same company. We were probably at about the same level here, really, because even though she isn’t the head of a project like I am, she’s still working on a very important, ‘respectable’ project that no one thinks is a wild goose chase that nothing will come of. I let her lead me from the lab, partially because now that she mentioned how long it had been since I ate I was hungry, and partially because I wanted her input on what she thought about these new readings, because she was brilliant and wouldn’t think that I was crazy. Definitely not because I was too stunned still to resist, in any way. And if it was, those reasons definitely still counted.

Either way, we ended up at an iHOP near the building, which was our favorite place to eat because the pancakes were great and all of the other foods were also alright. We got seated at our normal booth, which goes to show how often we ended up eating there, for us to have a normal booth. I ended up word vomiting all over her about everything that had happened today before we even got our food, but Laura was used to this and politely refrained from calling me crazy, insane, bonkers, etc. Which, honestly? More than I expecting.

“Well,” she said, cupping her chin in her hands. “That is. Certainly a story.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I know.”

“And you’re certain that it was. Yourself. From the future.”

“Yes! She looked exactly like me, only older! And then there were the –.”

“ – The readings, I know. But.” Laura paused, probably trying to get what she wanted to say in order on her head. “You are absolutely certain that it was you. Like, 100 percent sure, not 99 percent sure. That makes a difference!”

“Yeah, I know, I am also a scientist who knows the significance of certain versus highly likely. And my answer is still that I am as certain as I can be without a DNA analysis or something.”

Laura slid her face down so that the rest of her face was in her hands rather than her chin. “And,” she said, sounding calm but slightly strangled, for some reason. “And. The person whom you insist was you from the future was trying to destroy the prototype of the Tachyon Project.”

I huffed and nodded, rolling my hand at her to get on with it.

“So. You aren’t concerned at all about the fact that you in the future decided to use the time machine that legally belongs – or will belong, whatever – to FuTech, making your usage of it probably illegal, by the way, to come back to now, when you’re just getting somewhere, and destroy the prototype of your life’s work, which also belongs to FuTech, and probably get you fired.” 

She looked up, taking in my expression, then put her head back and groaned in defeat. “No. Of course you aren’t. That would be stupid.”

Joey, the waiter, came over with our pancakes before I could respond, and visibly decided not to even acknowledge what was happening. He’s a smart kid, really, and had waited on us too many times for us to care. He put our food down and left as fast as he could without looking like he was running from something. Like I said, smart kid. I’d have to leave him a bigger tip than usual.

“Look,” I said, driving my fork into my Mexican Tres Leches pancakes. “No, really, look. I don’t know why I decided to do that. It might make sense for me to try to do that in four-to-six years. It might not! It could be that that was what I had seen years before, so that is what I was going to make myself see, you know? Or maybe future!me never saw me, and so the reason is even more valid!”

Laura squinted at me. “Sanj, this is starting to sound like those time paradoxes that you insist you ‘aren’t convinced of the existence of, either way’ to me. Are you sure that you want to go down that rabbit hole?”

No, I really didn’t. “No,” I said, “I really don’t. But still!”

Laura raised her head to the sky, then looked at me. “Listen. We can continue this – and believe me, we will – after I eat my undoubtedly delicious Cupcake Pancakes. Alright?”  


I wanted to eat my food too, so I agreed, though I bet that Laura would just ignore me in favor of her pancakes if I tried to keep talking anyway, so.  


“Right,” I said once Laura finished – I had eaten as fast as I could, but Laura wasn’t inclined to do anything of the sort. “You were saying?”  


Laura’s hand came up to her head, looking like she didn’t know whether to run it through her hair or rub it against her temple. “Honestly? I don’t know what I was saying anymore. This is not a situation that I can offer anything close to good advice in, and probably can’t really understand. You wouldn’t listen, anyway, would you?” I didn’t say anything and she took it for the answer it was and sighed. “So maybe we should stop talking about the actual reasoning behind anything your future self may or may not have done for questionably good or bad reasons and start talking about the science behind it.”  


“You mean the readings.”  


“No, I mean the physics of your prototype – yes I mean the readings!”  


“Well. You don’t have to be so sarcastic about it, Laur.”  


She raised an eyebrow at me, also sarcastically. “And here I thought that you were so excited about them that you couldn’t even function properly for possibly hours.”  


I raised a finger at her. “Firstly, Laura, if that’s even your real name, that may or may not have happened, emphasis on the may not part. Secondly, just because I’m excited doesn’t mean that you have any authority to be taking that sarcasm with me. Thirdly, if we’re going to be discussing the readings, we should probably actually, you know, discuss them, instead of talking about sarcasm and events that may or may not have passed but probably didn’t, like some people seem to think we should be doing.”  


“Oh, like you’re one to talk, Sanja.” Despite the hurtful things she said and the extremely hurtful way she said them, she did concede to talking about the readings.  


Of course, those readings had blown her mind as much as they had mine, because even if she wasn’t an expert, she knew enough to know how groundbreaking they were. Of course, because neither of us had much dignity in the first place when it came to science, we were both almost literally drooling over them in a corner booth in an iHOP.  


“Oh, God,” Laura leaned back in her booth, “this is just. Wow. I don’t – I don’t think I even have the words. I just. I can see why you were just standing there. I can’t blame you for it. I can’t even mock you for it.”  


“I know.” I decided to let the fact that she was claiming something that may or may not be true slide, because she was stunned. Bushwhacked. Bamboozled. Absolutely grand-pianoed. Like that screenshot from Tom & Jerry with Tom getting hit in the face with a pie, you know the one.  


My instruments, which I had decided were no longer just my instruments and now qualified as my children, had managed to not only pick up readings from future!me, but had also managed to pick up faint readings from the machine that she had. Of course, this was what I was hoping for and more, hence why I was declaring my existing machinery my new adopted kids. These readings, which I’m sure no one reading this would care for if not for the fact that it was time travel, were still very boring in essence, and horribly confusing and hard to explain for anyone who isn’t experienced in the field, or what field there was. Honestly, I didn’t understand them fully yet, so. I really didn’t have any place in trying to explain them to other people. Suffice it to say, I already knew that they would prove essential to my work once I could decipher them.  


Laura pushed herself up violently. “Why are we still here then?! You need to be back in your lab making that machine work! This is the biggest thing ever! Or it will be!”  


Laura grabbed my arm and pulled me up, displaying that sometimes we were both too enthusiastic about science to notice anything else, even (especially) what was good for us.  


“Laura, we still have to pay.”  


“I know! So hurry up and let’s pay, then get back to work!”  


We went to the register and paid, practically vibrating in excitement, then all but ran back to FuTech. We managed to stop before going in the lobby, but only just. We would have if we could’ve gotten away with it and still looked like respectable or sane scientists after. In fairness, most people already thought that I wasn’t either of those, so it didn’t really matter to me and I refused to acknowledge when people said things like that about me, so it really was mostly for Laura’s benefit. We speedwalked to the elevator and I stopped Laura just before she hit the button for my lab floor – the last floor.  


“Laura,” I said solemnly when she looked at me like I had lost my mind, “I cannot work on this right now. I need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. I can already feel the caffeine withdrawal headache coming on.”  


Laura huffed out a laugh, softly. “Fair enough. I need my fix too. And we don’t want another Incident happening, do we?”  


I leveled her with a flat stare. “We do not speak of the Incident-that-shall-not-be-spoken-of.”  


She hit the button for the floor with the main break room for scientists, which not-so-coincidentally held the best coffee machine in the entire building. Everyone knows that scientists of all kinds subsist pretty much entirely on coffee, Red Bull, other kinds of horrendously caffeinated drinks, and various combinations thereof, most of which can reliably be classified as abominations. But, you know, they were abominations on which we were dependent, so they were tolerated, and even celebrated.  


I went to the fridge that held the 5-Hour Energies while Laura got the and filled two mugs, because that meant that I had to deal with less people that thought I was insane. Or stupid. Or both. My personality probably didn’t help much there, actually. It didn’t really give much proof towards me not being crazy. Neither did the fact that I was about to combine heavily caffeinated coffee with a 5-Hour Energy, and then actually drink it. But then, everyone else did the same, and they knew it. No one in this building was that much of a hypocrite that they would mock me for my choice in drinks, of all things.  


Laura walked back with two steaming mugs of heavenly nectar and presented them to me. I added the lifeblood to it, and we both took one.  


“To SCIENCE!” Laura said, raising her mug in a toast.  


“To giving ourselves heart attacks before we’re 40,” I said, raising my mug as well.  


“And SCIENCE!”  


“And science.”  


We tapped our mugs and downed them as fast as we could without scalding our tongues off. Once we had both swallowed, I grabbed Laura’s hand and we both went back to the elevator, hitting the button for my lab floor. We probably could have stayed up in the break room, since Laura couldn’t really do anything in my lab, and staying in the break room would at least be proof that she was actually at work, albeit not really working, you know, on her actual project. But, really, we couldn’t have. I believe that I mentioned how Laura actually had a good reputation, despite being friends with me still, but being friends with me and being seen discussing time travel theories and a technically-only-possible time traveler with me? That reputation would be destroyed, and neither of us were willing to hobble her career like that just to make a point. At least not yet. Also, I wasn’t ready to share this yet. The readings were the first solid, undeniable proof that time travel was a real thing that could actually happen, and while it would be incredibly satisfying to shove it in all of their faces, they wouldn’t admit that it was true unless I had a time machine ready to go, which I didn’t. So, yeah, my validation could wait a while, after I could actually demand it when I had a time machine built. Never had I been so glad to have taken engineering classes than when I found out that I would have to build my prototypes and actual machine myself. Seriously, they couldn’t have had me work with just one actual, real engineer? I get that this is a low-priority project, but still. But I digress. The important thing is that we went down to my lab to talk about the readings.  


I went straight to my notebook, the one that had all of my important theories in it because this was definitely going to be essential to my theories in the future (get it?), and started copying down the readings that were still being displayed on my children, because my children were brilliant. Laura hovered behind me, looking over my shoulder. She was just as anxious as I was to see the fabled readings again – well, to see them at all, for her. I mean, it isn’t like it wasn’t understandable. I had already seen the readings before, and may or may not have spent an indeterminate amount of time staring at them blankly, but they were still just as glorious as they had been before.  


“Wow,” she breathed, eyes wide.  


“I know,” I whispered fervently.  


“That’s just – it’s just – I don’t – I cant even – wow.”  


“Wow,” I agreed, because she was right.  


“Can I just like, stay here? I mean, this is way more interesting than my project, and you’re down here on your own.”  


I considered it, more than I had when she offered before. She had, but I always turned her down, because it wasn’t worth her getting in trouble. Also, people would assume that she was the one who had discovered anything that we might have discovered, see previous tangents on my reputation versus hers. And I wanted to prove that I could do it without anyone’s help, even my best friend’s. So. Even though I really would appreciate the help, I already knew that I would be turning it down.  


I grimaced. “Sorry,” I said apologetically.  


“No, no,” Laura said hurriedly, trying to make it seem like she wasn’t hurt. “I get it. It’s fine.” She hadn’t been able to hide the disappointment and and shock soon enough when I said it, though.  


“No, I mean, it’s just that if you spend a day down here, and on that day I start getting results? Everyone will-.”  


“Yeah, no, I get it, Sanj. You’ve said the same thing a dozen times, and it makes sense, it’s – it’s fine.” I was pretty sure that she had been about to say something else, but I didn’t call her on it.  


Laura smiled again, kind of sad, but also like she was resigned. It was gone in less than a second though, so I couldn’t be sure. The she turned around and walked to the elevator – sort of fast, like she wanted to be out of my lab, but also like she didn’t want me to be able to tell that. I felt awful that I had made her upset, but I also knew that she really did understand, she wasn’t just saying that to make me feel better. Later, we could talk about it and and stuff. In the meantime, I did what I always did when suddenly confronted with emotions or situations that I didn’t want to deal with: I started working. It wasn’t hard to get lost in the work, especially since it was so interesting and new, but the thrill had soured. I kept working until past 7, not even realizing it until I saw the time at the corner of my computer screen. Since Laura probably wouldn’t be down to drag me out later, I felt that I should probably leave then, instead of accidentally staying here working through the night (again). I saved my work and checked out.  


The next morning, however, proved to be just as eventful as the last. An incredibly familiar person turned around from my prototype, and smiled at me uneasily.  


“Hi,” my future self said. “I don’t suppose that you’ll accept that this is for your own good, huh?”

**Author's Note:**

> So. I was just writing this for my creative writing class, right? And I had this whole, like, idea in my head but I couldn’t write it all out in time. Or even a good portion of it. So I just wrote it like a chapter, and I might continue it if I get the motivation to, or like post where I was going with it at least. Either way, I just felt like seeing if more people than my writing teacher would like to read this, so enjoy!  
> Also: I may or may not decide to post other class works here, depending.


End file.
